Quote:
Originally Posted by Fbone
Many as in more than a few. The 90% refers to the percentage of reviews per indie title. Not the number of samples. Sorry if that was confusing.
And by fake I mean not written by the author, friends, family, for hire or profit.
As for proof, each person will have their own experiences and reach their own conclusions. For me (your quote of mine) is how I see it. Today there are 497 free titles added to Amazon and I looked at over 200 of them most with average of 4-5 stars. I don't look at erotica or spiritual/Christian titles. I do this daily hoping to find the next Hugh Howey or Shayne Parkinson. I guess I'm a sucker for titles that receive 34 out of 36 5-stars but am almost always disappointed when I see all the "Harriet Klausners" and similar reviewing. I read samples first if there are no or few reviews.
As for actual studies, the one I remember was that somewhere around 85% of Amazon top reviewers/respondents were compensated and 88% gave positive reviews. I think this is it.
http://paidcontent.org/2011/06/24/41...azons-reviews/
I wish the system was better. People are buying books and short stories based on reviews and become disappointed with their purchase. This does not help the indie writer. |
I certainly believe it's your opinion, I just don't believe it a fact and I believe that by stating it the way you did you are attempting to make it more than it is.
More than a few doesn't mean anything btw. If you could actually provide evidence that 60, 70, 80% of the reviews are fake then you might have something to contribute but just throwing around opinions and possibilities does more harm than good.
The validity of the O.P. study specifically indicated that it did not apply to reviews with one or very few reviews. The point is that the masses are basically correct (how could they not be, that's the point) moreso than the "professional" reviewers who tend to be biased. This was the point of Sir Francis Galton's work as explained in the article.
Are there fake/paid reviews on Amazon? yes.
Are there spam campaigns of one-star reviews? yes.
Are they rampant? No
Do they make Amazon reviews unreliable? No.
Do we all want the system to be better? Yes.
I'd still rather rely on reviews by a variety of readers than have to rely strictly on the NYT Books Review. I'd prefer hearing from readers like myself and then in conjunction with the blurbs and sample(s) make up my own mind whether to read/purchase it.